Washington Times

Pa. college vending machine dispenses 'morning-after' pill

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — Students at a Pennsylvania university can obtain the "morning-after" pill from an unusual source — a vending machine at the campus health center.

The vending machine at Shippensburg University's Etter Health Center provides the Plan B emergency contraceptive along with condoms, decongestants and pregnancy tests.

Vice President ...

Blood-clot guidelines challenge economy-class risk

CHICAGO (AP) — Good news for budget-minded travelers: There's no proof that flying economy class increases your chances of dangerous blood clots, according to new guidelines from medical specialists.

Travelers' blood clots have been nicknamed "economy-class syndrome," but the new advice suggests this is a misnomer.

The real risk is not getting ...

Job openings jump to near a 3-year high

WASHINGTON — The number of available jobs in the United States jumped in December to near a three-year high, supporting other data that show a brighter outlook for hiring.

Companies and governments posted 3.38 million jobs in December, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That's up from the 3.12 million advertised ...

Komen official quits over Planned Parenthood dispute

ATLANTA — A high-ranking official resigned Tuesday from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity after a dispute over whether the group should give funding to Planned Parenthood, according to a letter obtained by the Associated Press.

Karen Handel, the charity's vice president for public policy, told Komen ...

Dad who killed self, sons in blaze left voice mail

GRAHAM, Wash. — Before setting his house ablaze and killing himself and his two young sons, Josh Powell left a voice mail for family members saying he couldn't live without the boys and didn't want to go on anymore.

ABC News obtained what it says was a voice mail Powell ...

Long-awaited ruling on Calif. gay-marriage ban Tuesday

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Supporters and opponents of California's ban on same-sex marriage anxiously were awaiting a federal appeals court decision Tuesday on whether the voter-approved measure violates the civil rights of gay men and lesbians.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that considered the ...

Staff removed at L.A. school during abuse probe

LOS ANGELES — The entire staff at a Los Angeles elementary school is being removed while authorities investigate horrific allegations of sexual abuse by two of the school's teachers, one of whom is accused of blindfolding children, taping their mouths and photographing them in a classroom.

Los Angeles Unified School ...

PRUDEN: Romney waiting for the big cupcake

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

There are no East Carolinas in the National Football League, as a wise man (John Madden? Pat Summerall?) famously put it, but the field in the Republican presidential primaries this year is studded with cupcakes.

Mitt Romney, who if he were a football team might have been an East ...

A method to a madman's madness

GRAHAM, Wash. — Josh Powell's boys were coming for a visit, and he had preparations to make.

He boxed up their books and toys and brought them to a charity. He carried heavy cans of gasoline inside his house.

He thought about what to write in the final emails he'd send ...

Abramoff says he wants to clean up lobbying

Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who says he once made $20 million in a year before going to federal prison on public corruption charges, wants to produce movies and a reality television show. And he would like to help reform the political system he exploited for years.

Abramoff, at the ...

Kaptur, Kucinich face off in Ohio

They have served a combined 46 years in the House of Representatives, ethnic Catholic liberals born four months apart representing districts along their state's northern border.

But now, redistricting in Ohio, drawn up by a Republican-led General Assembly, has left two powerhouse liberal Democrats, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich and Rep. ...

American Scene

PENNSYLVANIA

Official says bankruptcy possible for state capital

HARRISBURG — The state official in charge of figuring out how to fix an enormous financial shortfall in Pennsylvania's capital city said in a proposed recovery plan released Monday that "significant and difficult" steps lie ahead, and that Harrisburg may end up ...

Administration pushes proposal to cap college tuition

Shrugging off widespread criticism of its college tuition cap proposal, the Obama administration mounted a public-relations blitz Monday to sell the plan to students and university leaders.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts were among the White House officials and ...

Georgia Supreme Court voids law restricting suicide-assist ads

ATLANTA | Georgia's top court struck down a state law that restricted the advertising of assisted suicides, siding Monday with four members of a suicide group who said the law violated their free-speech rights.

The Georgia Supreme Court's unanimous ruling found that the law violates the free-speech clauses of the ...

Study: Junk food remains in U.S. elementary schools

CHICAGO | Junk food remains plentiful at the nation's elementary schools despite widespread efforts to curb childhood obesity, a new study suggests.

Between 2006 and 2010, nearly half of public and private schools surveyed sold sweet or salty snack foods in vending machines or other places, the study found.

There ...

Mo. teen describes killing as amazing, 'enjoyable'

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri teenager who admitted stabbing, strangling and slitting the throat of a young neighbor girl wrote in her journal on the night of the killing that it was an "ahmazing" and "pretty enjoyable" experience — then headed off to church with a laugh.

The ...

Abuse's big toll on littlest victims

An estimated 4,500 children were so badly abused in 2006 they needed to be taken to a hospital, and 300 of them — mostly babies — died of their injuries, says a first-of-its-kind study released online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

The study included a 3-month-old with multiple bruises, a ...

WILLIAMS: Mourning in America

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

We must prepare ourselves for another four years of excessive spending, class warfare and unremitting political correctness.

Ronald Reagan succeeded wildly running for president with the slogan "It's morning in America." Would anyone believe it if a candidate tried that now? The most optimistic any of us could muster ...

U.S. marriage rate continues decline; men tie knot later

The third annual National Marriage Week USA begins Tuesday amid a tumultuous state of the union.

Connubial joy is punctured by news that marital happiness plummets after a few years and having a baby puts romance on hold, sometimes for years.

U.S. marriage rates are low and dropping, while the ...

Hackers attack law enforcement websites

SALT LAKE CITY — Saboteurs have hacked into the websites of several law enforcement agencies worldwide in attacks attributed to the collective called Anonymous, including in Boston and in Salt Lake City, where police say personal information of confidential informants and tipsters was accessed.

The Utah hackers gained access ...